Early boomers attachment to stocks

[ridgel]

One strong trend I notice is that recently retired boomers, including my parents and parents of friends, have not given up on stocks. Many seem virtually obsessed with CNBC. Last time I saw him my dad asked me if I had "heard of this Roubini character - awww, he's just a big pessimist". Anyways, many people in this demographic did very well with stocks in the 90s, and despite 2000 and 2008 are still quite a bit ahead. And their belief in stocks as the way to make money is unshaken - helped along considerably by 1% interest rates on bank accounts.

I don't think that gen x-ers are nearly as attached to the market. Most didn't have enough in the game to make big bucks in the 90s. And the last decade certainly didn't convince them. So that's a medium or long-term negative for stocks, as boomers retire, holding their equities but not buying more, and gen-xers and below lack the same gusto for equities.